Opening One's Eyes to Reality
by flaming kyubi
Summary: After the failed retrieval of Sasuke, Tsunade and Jiraiya declare Sasuke as a missing-nin and order Naruto to forget about Sasuke and focus only on training and defeating the Akatsuki. How will Naruto develop as a shinobi when Sasuke is no longer his main priority and is no longer burdened with a promise to return him, Naruto can begin to train seriously on his tree year trip.
1. Beggining of a Journey

**Chapter One: The Order**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

**Jutsu/Technique/Biju**

_Thoughts/Thinking_

Talking/Speech

**As you can see I started another story, wasn't my intention but I just had an idea and started writing. Anyway this is your typical story that starts at his three-year training, only thing different Is that Naruto rather than accepting the harsh reality of Sasuke's defection he is instead forced (Ordered) to abandon Sasuke's rescue and instead focus of destroying the Akatsuki.**

**Naruto will be much stronger than cannon upon his return, most likely Jonin level (Probably around Kakashi or Darui's level) Wont make him Kage level until later other wise there would be little room for improvement later.**

* * *

**Konohagakure no Sato: Hospital**

"You're a fucking idiot!".

Jiraiya's words were harsh and unforgiving, Naruto himself was shocked, he had been teased and insulted before by his friends and even mocked by his sensei, Kakashi, but never had anyone so close to him spoken such harsh words to him before. The words cut deep especially because subconsciously Naruto realised that Jiraiya had summed up all of Naruto's flaws in four simple words.

Jiraiya for his part let of out a sigh of annoyance, he had tried to explain the gravity of the situation involving the Akatsuki to Naruto but the boy instead brushed off his warnings and proudly proclaimed he would instead rescue his traitorous friend. Naruto clearly did not understand how dire his situation was, he was a weak and stupid child in a adult's world.

"You don't see just how bad your situation is do you brat?" Jiraiya asked the blonde whiskered boy.

"What situation?, I have to rescue Sasuke, I made a promise and I never go back on my word!" Naruto argued back.

"Why can't you understand, the Akatsuki is probably the biggest threat within the Elemental Nations and there gunning after you, instead of preparing for the inevitable encounter with them you want to chase after a traitor!" Jiraiya growled out at the boy.

"Sasuke's not a traitor he's a comrade and any one who abandons a comrade is less than scum!" Naruto yelled back in defiance.

"Sasuke already abandoned you and Sakura, he's no longer a comrade, he is now a traitor and as a shinobi of Konoha, it's your duty to either kill him or bring him to justice, not to rescue him like some damsel in distress. Sasuke knew the consequences of his actions when he left, he has made his own chose and now must follow it to the end" said Jiraiya.

"But Kakashi-sen..."

"ENOUGH, SHUT YOUR MOUTH, I HAVE HEARD ENOUGH OUT OF YOU" Jiraiya bellowed in rage at his naïve student. Naruto flinched at the anger in his sensei's voice.

"Naruto if the Akatsuki capture you and gain the Kyubi just how many people do you think will be killed when they inevitably use its massive destructive powers. You friends, your village, and so many others will die because of your stubbornness and as a person who has the power to stop this I will do everything to prevent that from happening even if it means killing you" Jiraiya said coldly, yet inside his heart was crying he truly didn't want to be so harsh with Naruto but he was out of options.

"You said you wanted to be Hokage, but you just don't seem to understand what it means to be a Hokage, right now you're the furthest thing away from Hokage" Jiraiya said.

That last statement left Naruto stunned, once again self-doubt began to fog his mind. Naruto remembered the Yondaime Hokage sacrificing his life and Naruto's chance at a normal life in exchange for saving thousand of other lives. Naruto had always admired the Hokage's who had sacrificed their lives to save the village, Naruto had liked to believe he had modelled himself after their ideals, yet when it came down to it Naruto was all talk, he was still indecisive about sacrificing his bond with Sasuke for the benefit of the village as a whole. Naruto then knew that as he was now he could never become Hokage if he kept this mindset.

"Naruto, the decisions already been made by Tsunade and the elders, Sasuke Uchiha is to become marked as a criminal and is to be killed on sight or captured should the order be given. I want you to think hard Naruto are you a Konoha shinobi, are you a man who can become Hokage, or are you just trash who breaks the rules and disobeys his leader" Jiraiya said quietly before leaving the hospital room.

Moments later Tsunade entered the room and sat by Naruto's side without making a sound and watched as tears spilled out of his eyes.

"Why are you doing this to me" Naruto whispers out in despair. Tsunade frowned at his distress and moved over to gently caress his cheek, moving in slowly she planted a gentle kiss on his whiskered cheek before pulling him into a warm embrace.

"To protect you, because you're like a son to me and I love you, I will always protect you even if it means you hate me for it. I can just hope that one day you will forgive me for being selfish but I wont let you die, not when it's within my power to keep you alive" Tsunade whispered gently into his ear.

Naruto for his part was silent before he silently began sobbing into her embrace.

**One week later:**

Naruto sat under a tree within training ground seven, reading a taijutsu scroll that had been given to him by Tsunade. One week had passed since his harsh reprimanding from Jiraiya and Naruto had so far spent most of his time pondering on the current situation, he had also put some thought into Jiraiya's words as harsh as they were held an element of truth that Naruto could not shake off.

On a brighter note Naruto and Tsunade had become closer even though it was by Tsunade's orders that he felt his current conflict, the loving words she had spoken and her honest desire to protect him had lightened the burden on his heart. Tsunade had even provided him with scrolls to help him improve his abysmal taijutsu, the style according to Tsunade belonged to Butsuma Senju, her great-grandfather, Butsuma had great natural physical strength just like Naruto and so Tsunade believed he would benefit from his style.

Naruto so far hadn't gotten to far into the style as he had no sparring partner, Jiraiya had left on a mission to gather information from some informants and would not be back until another three weeks. Naruto was then placed back onto Team 7 until Jiraiya came back, although on a brighter note Kakashi had began taking their training more seriously.

Not only had Naruto started taking his own training seriously but he had also replaced his orange jumpsuit for black pants, a long-sleeved black shirt and a sleeveless red haori like Jiraiya. Along with new clothing he had taken the time to ask Iruka-sensei to provide him with the information he missed in the academy due to his love of pranks and attention seeking attitude.

Letting out a sigh he turned to look at his teammate Sakura who was seated nearby him reading a medical text, she had been taken under the tutelage of Tsunade and already proven herself to be a natural at the medical arts. Sakura had also received a similar lecture about her casual approach to her shinobi career and like Naruto, resolved to improve. She had taken the news of Sasuke's missing-nin status hard but having had a talk with Tsunade, grudgingly came to an understanding, that didn't mean she liked it, and she still would try to save Sasuke from himself but she would still follow the orders given to her.

Hearing footsteps on the grass nearby Naruto looked up to the visage of his sensei, Kakashi. Naruto and Sakura stood up and greeted their sensei for what would be one of their last training sessions as Team 7 for the next three years. Kakashi quickly observed his students taking in their recent changes, he was happy that they had begun taking their careers seriously, but at the same time was saddened that it wasn't him who managed to change them.

"Your late again sensei" Sakura said with an annoyed huff.

"Sorry, my refrigerator was running so I had to go and catch it, I was lead on a merry chase all the way to Iwa where I was caught in a fierce battle with an army of Sumo wrestlers, of course with my amazing skills I defeated them and then made my way home" Kakashi explained nonchalantly.

"Lair" Sakura and Naruto said with disbelief.

"No, I assure I'm telling the complete truth, besides I'm a ninja and ninja can't lie, it's almost an unspoken rule" said Kakashi. Naruto and Sakura just looked unconvinced.

"_Uh-oh Im loosing face here_" Kakashi thought. "Now why do I get the feeling you don't believe me your own sensei who would never lie to his cute little genin". Sakura and Naruto could only sweat drop at his blatant lie.

"Well now that greetings are over care to fill me in on what you have learned lately" Kakashi asked. Kakashi knew that his two student's were learning the trademark skills of their respective Sannin teachers and so wanted to know what he could teach them.

"Well Tsunade-Sama has begun my instruction on the medical arts and Shizune-senpai has begun teaching me how to use and apply poisons as well as how to wield senbon" Sakura informed her sensei.

"Good, with you superior chakra control Iryojutsu should be a breeze for you to learn, never the less I expect you to put your fullest effort into learning it no matter how easy it may come to you. Also Sakura should you get the time I want you to begin learning Genjutsu to supplement your Iryojutsu, if you need help I can call in a favour with Kurenai" Kakashi instructed, pleased with her progress.

"Well I have begun learning a proper Taijutsu style and I have also spent me free time working on chakra control and while my control is still a little shaky, Tsunade-baa-chan said it wasn't as bad as people claim it to be, I have been given clearance to begin learning more advanced Ninjutsu" explained Naruto.

"Good, learning a proper taijutsu style will do you a lot of good, also putting your massive chakra reserves to use with ninjutsu is a great idea, but make sure to be careful. Naruto while your training with Jiraiya I suggest you study up on Fuinjutsu and if possible find yourself a weapon that takes advantage of your natural strength" Kakashi advised Naruto.

"Yes sensei"

Reaching into his pocket Kakashi pulled out two slips of paper and handed one each to Naruto and Sakura, seeing their confusion he decided to explain to them the basics of change in chakra nature.

"What I have given you is called chakra paper, chakra paper is used to determine one's elemental affinity"

"Elemental affinity, I've heard of that term before but where?" Naruto asked. Sakura seeing an opportunity to show off her intelligence spoke up.

"Elemental affinities are the chakra natures a shinobi has a particular alignment with, there are five basic elements, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Water, and Earth. Each shinobi is aligned with one element, two in some rare cases or those with Kekkei Genkai, for Jonin level ninja it's common for them to have trained in more than one element despite not being aligned to those other elements. For example Naruto, Zabuza had an affinity to water while Haku who had a Hyoton bloodline had an affinity for Water and Wind" Sakura lectured.

"Good Sakura you pretty much covered the basic aspects of change in chakra nature, but now your both about to find out you're element. To do this simply pump some chakra into the paper and I'll explain the results" Kakashi explained getting nods from his two students.

Pumping a small slither of chakra into her paper, she was surprised when her card became soaked in water, looking over to Naruto she was even more surprised when Naruto's card burst into bright, hot flames, the paper burned for a moment before going out and a small cut appeared on the paper.

"Well Sakura it seems you have a water affinity. This is good for a support type like you as water release has many assassination techniques that will allow you to pick off your enemies while the frontline fighters distract the enemy up front. Water also provides you with a number of supplementary techniques that will assist your Iryojutsu and Genjutsu, also water is a common element in Konoha so there is plenty of people to help you master your element" Kakashi explained to his pink haired student.

"Naruto you on the other hand have a powerful fire affinity and a minor wind affinity. For you I suggest using your fire release as the core of your ninjutsu style, that small flame you produced before was intense and I can only imagine how powerful your flames will be in the future, as for wind I can't really help you there but one thing I noticed is that your affinity for wind is barely at average strength, my suggestion is that you use it to supplement and increase the strength of your fire release or use it with a weapon to make up for its lack of strength, but don't worry with time and training it's power will gradually increase" Kakashi informed Naruto.

"So how do we actually use are affinities?" Naruto asked with excitement.

"Good question, both of you take a leaf, then pour your chakra into that leaf, Sakura your goal is to use you chakra to soak the leaf, Naruto use your chakra to set the leaf aflame".

Kakashi sat back and watched his young students begin their training, both where hard workers and surprisingly skilled, Kakashi could only imaging how strong they would get in the coming years.

**Three Weeks Later: Konoha Gates.**

Three weeks had passed since the two genin had begun their elemental training and the results were good, Naruto had finished the basic steps for fire manipulation in record time and was now moving onto learning the more advanced control techniques. Sakura on the other hand had recently finished the advanced control lessons, mainly due to her amazing chakra control, now she was working on improving her reserves so that she could use more ninjutsu.

Now Naruto stood at the large oaken gates of Konoha, Jiraiya at his side ready to begin their journey. Naruto knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that he could not afford to pass up, he had put his differences aside with Jiraiya and decided to learn all he could, he would not let the Akatsuki succeed.

Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi and Sakura had come out to farewell the duo, knowing they wouldn't see the two for another three years. Tsunade took it especially hard, having to let her son in all but blood travel the world for three years with dangerous criminals hunting him down was giving her a lot of stress.

"Well this is it, it's time to go Naruto" Jiraiya said after having said his farewells to Tsunade.

"Right, just a moment" Naruto said. Walking forward he wrapped his arms around Tsunade who happily returned the gesture.

"You better come back safe brat you still have to take this job from me" Tsunade whispered sadly.

"Don't worry, I promise I'll return home and take the hat from you, that you can believe" Naruto stated with a confident grin getting a smile from the Hokage.

"Naruto take care and be sure to learn as much as you can okay" Kakashi said getting a nod from his blonde student. finally Sakura came up and surprisingly hugged him, he was shocked but eventually returned the gesture.

"Naruto, I know that you still feel bad about Sasuke, but I want you to know I was never angry at you and as for your promise...well some promises are just made to be broken, it's not your fault. With that said let's make a new promise".

"What promise?"

"Let's both promise that by the end of the next three years we will both have become Jonin" Sakura said, Naruto grinned and nodded in acceptance.

"Agreed, in three years we will both be jonin". Sakura nodded and released her teammate.

With the farewells said both Naruto and Jiraiya turned and walked out the gates to begin their three-year journey. Neither knowing the adventure they would experience.

* * *

**Anyway I created another story hope you liked the first chapter. I will continue it if people liked it. **

**As for my other stories "Red Cloud Rebirth" next chapter is nearly completed and will be posted soon along with the next chapter for "Yoton no Naruto" along with some other stories I wrote in my spare time. I have so many ideas I can barely concentrate on my main stories but I promise I will not forget them.**

**Stats:**

**Naruto Uzumaki  
Age:13  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Konohagakure  
Affinity: Fire, Wind  
Ability: Uzumaki Chakra  
Weapon: None  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Bushinjutsu (Clone Techniques)/Shurikenjutsu  
nin:3 gen:1 tai:2 speed:3 strength:3 stamina:5 intelligence:1.5 handseals:1 total:18.5**

**Sakura Haruno  
Age:13  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Konohagakure  
Affinity: Water  
Ability: Chakra Control  
Weapon: None  
Skills: Iryojutsu/Genjutsu  
nin:2 gen:3.5 tai:1 speed:1 strength:1 stamina:1.5 intelligence:4 handseals:4 total:18**


	2. New Jutsu and First True Kill

**Chapter Two: New Jutsu and First True Kill**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

**Jutsu/Technique/Biju**

_Thoughts/Thinking_

Talking/Speech

**Hey everyone chapter two is up, lot of issues with the stats but to be honest both Naruto and Sakura's stats were straight from the data book at the end of Sasuke Retrieval Arc. It should be obvious that Naruto is the superior combatant but lacks intellectual abilities, where as Sakura lacks and combat ability yet possess great intelligence and control. **

**Aside from that the stats are just a basic overview of the character's abilities, it does not factor in their techniques, fighting style of past or current victories for example Naruto in Shippuden has a status result of 26 yet he has defeated S-rank opponents who rank in the 30's time and time again. Another example is Hidan who ranks at 31 yet was defeated by Shikamaru who is over 5 points weaker than him.**

* * *

**Hi no Kuni: With Naruto and Jiraiya.**

"Are we there yet?".

"No".

"Are we there yet now?".

"No".

"How about now?".

"No, no and no we are not there yet. For the love of the Rikudo Sennin will you just shut up and be quiet!".

ah silence...

"You love the Rikudo Sennin?".

"THAT'S IT BRAT YOUR DEAD" Jiraiya bellowed in frustration and swung his arm in a vicious backhand only to meet empty space.

"Hey what you swinging at Ero-Sennin I'm over here" Naruto said with a cheeky grin.

Jiraiya took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled to regain his composure, he needed to calm down before he decided to summon Gamabunta on top of Naruto's head. He knew Naruto was being childish because he was bored and he didn't blame him, Jiraiya had been visiting his contacts at each place they stopped, usually leaving Naruto on his own.

"Alright Naruto what's the problem?" the Toad Sage asked.

"It's been a month since we left Konoha and yet besides the daily sparring session you haven't taught me anything" Naruto said frustrated. Jiraiya let out another sigh.

"Hey don't sigh at me!".

"Look Naruto the reason I haven't taught you anything is because you need to master what you already have" said Jiraiya.

"Look I know that Taijutsu will take time it's not something that I will be able to master within a month, bit I know I will be able to master my style with time. What I want is some ninjutsu, I have already learned the last fire manipulation exercise a week ago" Naruto said.

"Look I get it you have a difficult job to do, you take research breaks to relax and that's fair enough you deserve it, all I'm asking is for something else to learn while your away" Naruto explained to the sage.

Jiraiya thought for a moment, he was surprised at Naruto's argument he had expected a childish fit but the boy had really put some thought into this. Looking at the quiet blonde he realised Naruto had been very patient and responsible during the last month. Giving a sigh Jiraiya turned to his young student.

"Well you've convinced me, I'll teach you some techniques, but you can't bother me for more Jutsu until you master them completely. Also we will continue sparring everyday so don't let your guard down and put all your energy into learning ninjutsu" Jiraiya explained.

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto yelled in excitement.

"Come on Naruto let's go train in that field over there" Jiraiya said pointing to an open field of grass a few hundred metre's from their current position.

"Alright Naruto the Jutsu I'm going to teach you is the **Katon: Endan (Fire Release: Flame Bullet) **It's a technique created by the Toad clan and can only be used by toads and their summoners. This Jutsu is similar to the Uchiha Clans Great Fireball Technique, it can be fired as a large bullet or a sphere of flames, a series of rapid smaller bullets, or a continuous flamethrower. The strength behind this technique is that it requires the user to combine it with oil converted from your chakra, something only a toad summoner would know. One more fact about this technique is that it's power can be adjusted by the amount of oil you use in the Jutsu, this is also the techniques flaw as the more oil you use, the longer it takes to use the technique" Jiraiya informed the blonde who listened intently.

"Now before I can teach you this technique I have to teach you the **Gamayudan (Toad Oil Bullet)** which allows you to convert your chakra into oil. This technique will also allow you to combine it with fire release to increase the power of your flames and gives you access to techniques such as the **Katon: Gamayu Endan (Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)**, It's a collaboration technique that you could pull off with a shadow clone or a toad summon" said Jiraiya, finishing his explanation.

"Alright now the hand signs are...".

**One Week Later:**

Naruto quietly watched the scenery as he sat by the edge of a large cliff, fields or green grass and dense forestry lay out before his gaze, the sky clear and blue and the temperature warm enough to relax comfortably. It was the sought of day many would call perfect.

Jiraiya had gone into town for an hour or two leaving Naruto alone to relax after an intense week of training. Naruto had spent hours each day working on his new Jutsu and could proudly say he had learned all the techniques taught to him. While they were not perfected yet they were given clearance for combat by his sensei.

Now he was waiting for Jiraiya to come back with a new mission to complete, having been gone little over a month he had yet to take any missions, something that bothered him greatly as he knew he needed to complete more missions if he wanted to compete in the chunin exams.

Naruto knew the next exams would be held in **Tanigakure no Sato (Village Hidden in Valley's)** in another four months so he had until then to improve both his shinobi skills and his intellectual skills. Naruto hoped that by the time the exams came around he would have a decent grasp on his fire release and have a better mastery of taijutsu.

Hearing footsteps behind him he realised Jiraiya had returned, no ninja with any skill would allow themselves to be so loud in the presence of a potential enemy. Turning around he greeted Jiraiya who was carrying a scroll with the letter 'C' printed in the seal that held the scroll closed.

"Naruto stop whatever it is you're doing we've got a C-ranked mission, It's nothing much just a simple bandit elimination but it will be a good test of your new skills, also it's a good chance to get your first kill" said Jiraiya.

"But I already got my first kill"

"Yes it's true you have, I read the report of your mission to **Cha no Kuni (Land of Tea)** and your victory over Aoi Rokusho, I know that because of your actions he was killed, but when he died it was because you knocked him off a cliff you didn't actually see him die so it didn't affect you much. Today when you make your kill you will be forced to watch them die, I wont lie to you it will be difficult but you going to have to do this eventually so we will get it over with now" Jiraiya said with a resigned frown.

"Let's just get this over with before you ruin my mood" said Naruto who now looked slightly uncomfortable.

The two travelled for about an hour, they were both silent, one thinking about the battle ahead, the other more experienced shinobi simply kept his eye's trained on his surroundings not at all bothered with the up coming battle.

**Bandit Camp:**

Tents made up the formation of the typical bandit camp, both men and woman dressed in cheap armour and weapons caused a ruckus as they celebrated yet another successful raid. The camp was noisy, crowded, and overall unpleasant to anyone new to the life of a bandit yet these men and woman who made up the core of the group felt right at home. Despite the fact that it was raining the cheer never seemed to disappear.

Among these ruffians was a man with an aura of experience one could only gain on the battlefield, this man unlike the rest was quiet and reserved, he did not cheer or party like his subordinates instead choosing to meditate, blocking out all the sounds around him. He was a tall man with short dark hair and steel grey eyes. He dressed in an Amegakure jonin uniform with flak jacket and a short black rain coat, on his forehead lay a slashed Amegakure headband.

The man while meditating was also scouting the area with his **Ukojizai no Jutsu (Rain Tiger at Will Technique)** searching for anyone who did not belong to his group. Things at first seemed peaceful until the rain alerted him to the oncoming of two very large chakra signature's. With a frown the man opened his eyes and with a simple hand gesture gained the attention of a kunoichi sitting nearby.

The kunoichi was a young woman with a curvaceous figure and an ample bust that often gained her more negative attention than she would have liked, though like any kunoichi, she knew how to use it to her advantage. She had her dark onyx hair tied up into a spiked ponytail, with a long bang covering her right eye leaving her orange left eye exposed. She wore a black kimono like blouse with a dark red skirt along with fisher leggings and knee-length boots, she also wore a slashed Kirigakure headband.

"Taki-san, I have sensed two intruders heading our direction, both have vast reserves of chakra most likely their both jonin. Send a Water clone to find Ryuuzaki and then prepare the **Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hiding in Mist Technique)** we will set an ambush for the two of them" the former Amegakure shinobi ordered her.

"Yes Tamaki-Sama" she replied before carrying out her orders.

Moments later the area was shrouded in a dense mist that blocked out the sun itself, the bandits who moments before were a disorganised rabble were now armed with bows and swords, each taken to hiding behind tree's and rocks. It wasn't long before the two ninja were joined by a third.

This one was a young brunette man with black eyes, dressed in a long-sleeved dark blue shirt and pants with a sleeveless white vest, he wore a slashed Getsugakure headband around his waist.

"Ryuuzaki-san, what took you so long" asked the leader.

"Sorry Tamaki-Sama, I was scouting out a nearby town for the next raid so it took me some more time to get back" the young man replied.

"Well it's a good thing you made it back now, the enemy is almost here".

**With Jiraiya and Naruto.**

The two had travelled for an hour now, both in silence they were near the bandit camp now according to the information they received from their client. Although Naruto was silent, inside he was a nervous wreck, what Jiraiya said was true he had never watched any of his kills actually die in front of him and he knew that today would test him in a way that would determine the sort of shinobi he would develop into.

The silence was ruined when rain started to fall from the now rapidly forming clouds above them. Jiraiya frowned at the unnatural weather change, his instincts developed from years of warfare ringing loudly inside his head.

"Ah man what a let down, and it was such a nice day to" Naruto whined.

"Your right Naruto, it 'was' a nice day, but don't you think it changed a little to fast". Naruto frowned thinking it over briefly.

"Yeah it did, what does that mean Ero-Sennin?".

"It means that we are being expected, also it means the information was wrong this is now a possible B-class mission so keep you eye's open and your guard up" Jiraiya said, Naruto nodded and began to observe the surroundings with more attention.

Soon a dense mist began pouring in blocking of visuals from all directions, the two kept travelling for a few more minutes before they broke out of the mist. What greeted them however was a wall of about thirty bandits all with their bows aimed on the two, the bandit's gave a cry and unleashed a volley on the two shinobi who responded with greater speed.

**"Katon: Endan"** they both yelled simultaneously.

Twin streams of oil enhanced flame descended onto the bandits below killing the group in seconds with the combined intensity of the flames. The two didn't bother to watch as they were immediately forced to jump back from a barrage of kunai. Three figures, two men and one woman, appeared before them.

"Well, well if it isn't Tamaki Aoi, B-rank jonin of Amegakure, along with Ryuuzaki Hoshimaru C-rank chunin of Getsugakure and Taki Kirigiri C-rank chunin of Kirigakure, to think the best the three of you could do with your skills was to form a bandit gang. How Pitiful" said Jiraiya, disappointment held in his voice.

"Damn it's a Sannin, we had better retreat while we can" Tamaki ordered. Before they could turn and flee Jiraiya appeared in front of the jonin and launched the man flying into the ground below with a vicious kick.

"Naruto, I'll handle the jonin you deal with the other two" Jiraiya ordered before taking off to fight Tamaki. Turning to face the two chunin before him Naruto gave a grin that showed his excitement at finally having the chance to show off his new skills.

"Ha you deal with us, what a joke a brat like you couldn't be anything more than a genin" Ryuuzaki boasted. Taki rolled her eyes at her teammates arrogance but kept silent.

"I am a genin, but even with my rank it will be more than enough to deal with you posers, a word of advice you should never underestimate your opponent" Naruto said.

Having finished with talking Naruto appeared before Ryuuzaki with a burst of speed and attempted the stab the arrogant rouge, Ryuuzaki for his part was shocked at the surprising display of speed and failed to react on time. Luckily for Ryuuzaki, Taki had been paying attention and did not misjudge her enemy, she blocked Naruto's kunai with her own before the two chunin jumped back to gain some distance.

"Damn you brat" Ryuuzaki scowled in embarrassment at nearly being killed by a genin.

"Not so much of a kid now am I" Naruto boasted, but did not drop his guard.

**"Doton: Doryusu (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears)**" the man shouted as he slammed his hands on the ground. Naruto jumped up as the ground around him rose up in spears and attempted to impale him. Naruto was forced to raise his arms and block a kick from Taki that launched his airborne form into a tree. Naruto burst into smoke much to the surprise of the two chunin, the real Naruto appearing behind his foe's and launched a barrage of flame infused kunai at their backs.

The two dodged the attack and retaliated, Ryuuzaki launched a javelin of stone while Taki threw a handful of poison coated senbon. Naruto created a shadow clone and used it as a shield while he prepared hand signs for his next Jutsu.

**"Katon: Endan" **With a shout the smoke from the dispersed clone was removed as a large fireball sailed through the air and slammed into the surprised Ryuuzaki. But any celebrating at the sight of a successful hit was removed as Ryuuzaki let of an agonising scream, his body covered in flaming oil melting his flesh, yet the flames themselves were not hot enough to kill quickly and the man could only scream as he was slowly consumed by flame.

Naruto watched in horror as the man began rolling on the ground in a desperate attempt to smoother the flames, but only succeeded in spreading it. The mans screams echoed in Naruto's ear chilling him to the bone, reminding him that he had caused this mans terrible suffering. Taki seeing Naruto distracted took the opportunity to escape before the Sannin returned.

Naruto at this point was shaking as the man was still not dead, his howls only getting more desperate, the liquid flame now coated his body completely but still not hot enough to finish him quickly.

"Shut up" Naruto mumbled, the mans scream taking a toll on his mental shields. Ryuuzaki couldn't hear him over the sounds of his own agony.

"Shut up please" Naruto quietly asked in a desperate tone yet the man continued yelling. Desperation caused Naruto to snap and his anger reached boiling point.

"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP" Naruto roared, pulling out a kunai he launched it with all his strength into Ryuuzaki's head finally killing the man.

Moments later Naruto collapsed to his knee's and emptied his stomach, his body still shaking like a leaf in the wind as tears begun forming in his eyes. Naruto tried to take deep breaths and regain control of his emotions but he was loosing an uphill battle. Finally after what seemed like an age Naruto eventually managed to calm down, whipping his eyes of any tears he sat their on his knee's and focused on regulating his breathing.

Jiraiya returned shortly after and patted Naruto on the shoulder. He frowned at the incident but knew it was necessary for Naruto to continue developing as a shinobi.

"How are you feeling Naruto?"

"Like shit" Jiraiya let out a small laugh.

"First time is always the most difficult" said Jiraiya.

"Difficult, that was terrible, I knew that as a shinobi I would one day have to take a life, but that was just completely unexpected" Naruto said, finally having caught his breath.

"Yes, you need to work on increasing the temperature of you flames otherwise things like this will keep happening" Jiraiya lectured the genin.

"Anyway we're done here, the local authorities will handle the rest, it's time for us to move on" Jiraiya said before he and Naruto began walking away from the scene, leaving behind a still burning corpse.

Naruto knew that after today he would never be the same, he now had finally started to see that the shinobi world was not all black and white, but in fact different shades of grey.

* * *

**Hey hope you liked the second chapter sorry it's short but I promise next chapter will be much longer. Anyway lately I have been trying to update everything as fast as I can because my laptop is giving me warnings that it could shut down at any moment, so I will try to do as much as I can. If I have not updated within the next two weeks then you will know something is wrong, I will try to fix the problem as fast as I can.**

**Stats:**

**Ryuuzaki Hoshimaru  
Age:26  
Rank: Chunin/C-rank  
Affiliation: Getsugakure  
Affinity: Earth  
Ability: none  
Weapon: none  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Taijutsu  
nin:3 gen:1.5 tai:2.5 speed:2.5 strength:3 stamina:3 intelligence:2.5 handseals:2.5 total:20.5**

**Tamaki Aoi  
Age:31  
Rank: Jonin/B-rank  
Affiliation: Amegakure  
Affinity: Water  
Ability: Sensor  
Weapon: Katana  
Skills: Kenjutsu/Ninjutsu  
nin:4 gen:3 tai:4 speed:4 strength:3.5 stamina:3.5 intelligence:3.5 handseals:3 total:28.5**

**Taki Kirigiri  
Age:27  
Rank: Chunin/C-rank  
Affiliation: Kirigakure  
Affinity: Water  
Ability: Medic  
Weapon: Senbon  
Skills: Iryojutsu  
nin:3 gen:3.5 tai:2 speed:3 strength:1.5 stamina:2 intelligence:4 handseals:3 total:22**


	3. Awakening the Bloodline Within

**Chapter Three: Awakening the Bloodline Within**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

**Jutsu/Technique/Biju**

_Thoughts/Thinking_

Talking/Speech

**Hey the next chapter is here so I hope you like it. Last chapter many expressed concerns that Naruto would be the same weak, naïve idiot from cannon, well that wont happen, I explained in earlier chapters that Naruto would at least be at Kakashi's level by the end of his trip, maybe even stronger so don't worry.**

* * *

**Hi no Kuni: With Naruto.**

Naruto sighed as he looked over the bandit camp bellow him from his position in a tree, this was twenty-fifth C-rank bandit extermination mission within the last three months and to be honest Naruto was bored of it. Much had changed since that ill-fated mission where he gained his first true kill and Naruto had changed much since then, although in a different way than Jiraiya was expecting.

Unlike most who would be traumatized into never killing unless necessary, Naruto while not enjoying the act of killing had no problem with it. The biggest change was that Naruto was a more efficient killer, he didn't like to drag out his kills instead ending his opponents ruthless and fast so that their pain was not drawn out.

Naruto had spent the last three months improving and refining his technique to achieve maximum potential from all his Jutsu, his fire hotter, his accuracy more focused, and his Taijutsu more fluid and powerful. The last three months had also done wonders for his growth being able to eat healthy foods, training with a teacher who payed attention to his job, and having improved his intelligence had served to reverse the damage his years in Konoha had done to him. Naruto was slightly taller, more muscular although not overly done, and more healthy than ever before.

As for training, Naruto had increased his arsenal of fire release to now include a dozen or more C-ranks and two or three B-ranks. Naruto found fire to easy to master, he was a natural that would even leave an Uchiha jealous. Jiraiya had also taught him some other supplementary techniques to help him adapt to any situation. The Gama Sennin had also begun instructing Naruto on Fuinjutsu, something that Naruto took to with surprising ease. Naruto managed to master the basics in a single month and learned D-Ranked seals to a master level, being able to apply them with a mere touch of his fingers and form them from his chakra.

Over all Naruto had grown rapidly in skill and power in the last three months, he had completed enough missions to be granted entry into the next chunin exams and was ready to prove himself.

Looking down at the camp below him he let out a resigned sigh and internally swore this was the last one for another two months. The camp was well designed, having a wooden wall surrounding the camp allowing for only three entrances. Surrounding the camp was a dense forest that would prevent any civilian or samurai military from bringing siege weapons to assault the small fortress.

Turning around, Naruto then spied a large force of lightly armoured soldiers hiding amongst the forestry. The difference of this mission compared to other C-ranks Naruto had done was that it was a **Konohagakure-Hi no Kuni **collaboration mission. Originally the camp was going to be taken out by a battalion of samurai deployed from the nearest city but new intelligence suggested the presence of shinobi, and so Naruto was sent on behalf of Konoha to deal with the shinobi threat.

Spying a bandit patrol heading towards the gate Naruto quickly applied the **Toton no Jutsu (Transparent Escape Technique)** and joined the returning patrol without their knowledge. Passing through the gateway Naruto quickly and subtly tapped the gate and placed an **Bakuhatsu Fuin (Explosive Seal)**, filling it with his powerful, potent chakra, Naruto went on his way.

Walking through the camp, Naruto saw how lax security was. The bandits where completely secure in the knowledge that their walls would protect them, something Naruto found amusing. It didn't take Naruto long for Naruto the finish placing explosive seals on all the gates, he even had time to place a few around the various crowds of drunken bandits to help soften the enemy up.

Having finished his job, Naruto activated the seals causing massive structural damage to the walls and gates and killing many bandits in seconds. Naruto immediately began walking towards the command tent to deal with their leader as hundreds of samurai poured into the camp killing the confused bandits with ease.

Walking through the mêlée Naruto eventually arrived at the command tent, a large white tent surrounded by obvious loot from numerous raids. It wasn't long before Naruto was confronted by a group of eleven shinobi dressed in ragged black clothing and wielding cheap katana's, the leader was a middle-aged man with dark hair and wore a grey haori over his clothing.

Naruto knew who these people were, they were rejects and academy drop-outs who couldn't make the cut in a shinobi village and so resorted to a life of crime. These people were pathetic trash who caused misery to others for no logical reason.

"Are you the brat who has caused all this commotion?" asked the leader who walked calmly to the front, flanked on both sides by his subordinates.

"Me, no never I was just passing through, honest" Naruto said with innocence.

"Don't lie to me brat" the man yelled with a scowl much to Naruto's amusement.

"I'm not lying trust me I'm a ninja, we can't lie" Naruto replied getting growls of anger from the surrounding ninja.

"It's obvious you're the one behind this so stop hiding to truth" the man growled out sick of the childish games.

"Well if you knew it was me then why did you ask?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"KILL THE LITTLE SHIT!" the man roared. With their leaders command the group charged the lone genin.

**"Katon: Hibashiri (Fire Release: Running Fire)"** Naruto called out after performing the handsigns. Fire erupted from around Naruto's feet and raced along the ground trapping the entire group within a large ring of white-hot flame.

"Good, now there shouldn't be any interference from outside" Naruto said with satisfaction. With that Naruto pulled out a handful of shuriken and with one hand began doing handseals. With a cry of **Katon: Hosenka Tsumabeni (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Nail Crimson) **Naruto launched the shuriken and ignited them in flame. Seven of the ten shinobi were caught in the attack and now lay dead, having their vital organs pierced with flaming shuriken.

Pulling out a kunai and igniting it with fire chakra, Naruto charged towards the first shinobi, ducking under a slow swing Naruto was quick to slash the mans vulnerable throat, turning around he parried an attack with his kunai and slammed his foot into the attackers chest launching him into the surrounding wall of flame ending his life. Attaching a wire to his kunai, Naruto launched the small blade at the last shinobi, who went to blocked the kunai with his katana. Manipulating the wire Naruto managed to successfully wrap the wire around the last man.

**"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)"** Naruto called out as he exhaled a stream of white-hot flame along the wire incinerating the trapped victim. Having dealt with all his attackers, Naruto turned to face the leader who looked absolutely livid.

"What's wrong?, you look upset" asked Naruto mockingly.

"You fucking brat don't you know who I am, I am-" The man began screaming only to be cut off.

"Saizo Kira, affiliation: **Tsume no Kuni (Land of Claws)**, rank C at best, failed at being recruited into your daimyo's forces and none of the hidden villages wanted you, overall you're a loser" Naruto said with a bored expression.

Saizo was livid, he had never been so badly insulted in his life before and what really annoyed him the most was the fact that Naruto's words were true. Pulling out his katana he rushed towards the blonde genin with a fury he had never felt before. Saizo never noticed the explosive seal beneath his feet that had been placed there by Naruto during the earlier fight, before he knew it all he saw was the sheer unending darkness.

Naruto stared at the charred corpse for a moment before taking his leave. He knew the samurai captain and his forces would deal with the mess.

**Hi no Kuni: With Sakura.**

Sakura had always thought herself to be a kunoichi, she thought Ino and Tenten, even Hinata were kunoichi. Sakura believed the moment she put on her headband she was a kunoichi.

She didn't realise how wrong she was until today.

The multiple corpses of genin level opponents, slain by her own hand, lying around her surprisingly wasn't the main factor to her doubts. No it was the visage of her sensei and senior, Shizune effortlessly slaughtering about twenty-six ninja of various levels with pathetic ease.

Shizune had taken the young apprentice on a B-rank mission in preparations for the upcoming chunin exams, Kotetsu and Izumo joining the duo serving as the groups support. The mission was to eliminate a group of Otogakure shinobi who were caught infiltrating Hi no Kuni by the border guards, Shizune wanted to use this as an opportunity to test Sakura and her new abilities.

Sakura dealt with some genin level opponents although their ranks suggested they were of chunin rank, she defeated them using her newly gained strength and although it was only at a novice level it had been more than enough to kill her opponents. Kotetsu and Izumo finished off a group of chunin with their amazing teamwork skills and now waited for their captain to finish up with her group.

Shizune then proved to everyone there why she was known as the Hokage's right hand.

She weaved a graceful dance of death through their ranks killing her victims with senbon coated in lethal poisons, her opponents dropping dead like flies.

The group consisting of four B-ranked jonin and twenty-two C-ranked chunin was quickly cut down to just fifteen total in less than a minute. The moment the group clustered together to combine their attacks Shizune showered the group in a lethal toxic cloud, the few who escaped where shot down by bullets of liquid, acidic poison exhaled from the poison mistress.

Shizune proceeded to cut down the four jonin with a chakra scalpel turned into a chakra sword. Sakura was left in awe at her senpai's abilities, she knew Shizune was a jonin and she knew that the woman was fast, even faster than her sensei Tsunade but Sakura never knew quiet and polite Shizune was so ruthless and powerful.

Sakura smiled, finally she knew what a true kunoichi was, finally she knew what she needed to do.

Sakura left for home confidant that upon Naruto's return she would have become a true and powerful kunoichi.

**Otogakure no Sato: With Sasuke.**

Sasuke scowled at the three opponents that surrounded him, a dozen more lay wounded of dead on the ground. Sasuke was panting hard from exhaustion he had been fighting for an hour now against uneven odds, now that he was out of chakra he was on the verge of losing to some low-level trash he believed where beneath him.

The months of intensive training and medical procedures along with the effect of performance enhancing drugs had drastically increased his level of power to beyond anything Konoha could gain him in the same time frame since he left. Sasuke had so far spent his time working on snake clan techniques along with improving his abilities with his natural element lightning.

Progress had been quick and he could easily claim himself to be at chunin level but he knew that until he reached S-rank he would never be satisfied with his level of power. Sasuke was distracted when he overheard Kabuto casually talking to Orochimaru.

"It appears that Naruto-kun has been very busy lately, his kill count now reaches in the hundreds, it seems at the rate he is progressing Sasuke will never catch up to him" Kabuto said aloud knowing Sasuke would hear him.

Orochimaru smirked at Kabuto's sneaky behaviour.

"Oh well that's to bad and here I thought Sasuke-kun would become the strongest of the two, appears I was wrong" Orochimaru said deviously.

Sasuke scowled. Naruto the dead last was still surpassing him even now, he was being shown up by someone who was not even in the same league as an Uchiha, the very thought left Sasuke livid. Allowing the curse mark to cover his body he relished in it's power and unleashed his fury on the poor fools that faced him.

Smirking at their dead bodies Sasuke turned and left the room leaving behind a group of corpses and a highly amused sannin.

_The Chunin exams are coming up next month, maybe I'll go and test myself against some real opponents and with any luck maybe Naruto will show up so I can once and for all settle our little rivalry for good" _Sasuke thought darkly as he walked through the silent halls of Otogakure.

Yes. The chunin exams would be a great place to settle the score and Sasuke would be sure to show the world the power of the Uchiha clan.

**Two days later: Yugakure no Sato (Hidden Hot Spring Village), with Naruto.**

Naruto sighed with content as he relaxed into the hot spring waters of the hotel he was currently residing in, after months of harsh training and missions it was a nice chance to finally relax. Looking over at the wooden wall that separated the springs Naruto was momentarily surprised that Jiraiya wasn't there peaking on woman.

It was then that Naruto remembered that Jiraiya was currently visiting a contact within the village they were staying at. Jiraiya as usual never mentioned were he was going and left Naruto to himself for the next few hours, it was something of a routine now.

Hours passed before Naruto finally decided to leave the resort, stretching his arms out to awaken his relaxed body he carefully stepped out of the water so that he didn't disturb the other occupants of the hot spring he left to the change rooms.

Walking through the quiet halls he momentarily unfocused his attention and knocked over a beautiful dark-haired woman. blushing at his clumsiness he reached his arm down to help her up.

"I'm so sorry about that miss, I wasn't looking where I was going" Naruto stammered out and apologised to the woman.

"It's okay I too wasn't paying attention so all is forgiven" She said with a soft smile causing Naruto to blush as he caught sight of her ample breast tightly restrained by her towel.

"Thank you and again I'm sorry" Naruto said, desperately suppressing his blush.

"I said it's okay no harm done" The woman said softly. Naruto was mesmerised by her orange eye's, his favourite colour he mused, she also seemed strangely familiar but brushed it off as coincidence.

Giving the beautiful woman a smile he said his farewells and continued down the hall to the dressing room never noticing the woman's smile turning into a smirk.

Pulling his clothing out of his locker he quickly got dressed and re-armed himself with his weapons. Naruto was about to leave when he spotted a letter inside his locker, pulling it out he opened the letter and read it's contents.

_Dear Naruto Uzumaki._

_My name is Higa Izumi, Noble of Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lightning), and former heir and now CEO of Gato Shipping Corporation._

_But you might know me as Gato Izumi's son._

_I must say you have been an annoyance over the last five months, constantly interfering in my business and killing my subordinates. _

_You have destroyed many of my camps throughout Hi no Kuni and begun crippling my business in that region. Those camps you destroyed were bringing in much money for the slave trade you see and while many of the slaves were just average nobodies, occasionally we would stumble upon a person of interest that would just have the buyers eating from my hand. Yet time and time again you interfere. It's time to end that._

_Now I should mention this isn't personal because you played a key part in my father's death, on the contrary I thank you for that, the fat swine needed to die and it served to make me rich and powerful. What im truly upset about is your blatant need to butt into my business and cost me money._

_Having said that though I have decided to gift you for removing my father from this world, the gift is in the locker beneath your own._

_And Uzumaki, I do hope you enjoy the gift._

_With Regards._

_Higa Izumi._

_P.S: You should never leave you enemy alive, always make sure the job is done._

It was only then that Naruto understood what the last part of the letter was saying. Images of the dark-haired woman flashed before his eye's, her orange eye's matching those of a certain rouge Kiri kunoichi he accidentally let escape months ago.

With haste and strength he never knew he had he ripped the door to of the locker beneath his own and threw it aside, he froze in horror at its contents.

A large stack of paper bombs sitting next to an electronic timer sat inside the metal locker, looking at the timer Naruto saw that the last remaining second had just counted down to zero.

"Fuck my life"

**BOOOOOM.**

**With Jiraiya.**

Jiraiya laughed heartily as he sipped his sake and chatted up the working girl curled up on his muscular arm. He had finished his business in this town early and decided to take a quick break at the local host club. He was enjoying his time greatly as between training with Naruto and working with his spy network he didn't get to relax as often as he would like.

His relaxation was disturbed by a loud explosion that shattered the glass of the establishment and sent the customers into a panic. Looking over to the direction of the explosion his eye's widened when he realised the explosion came from the hot springs Naruto was relaxing at.

Dropping a handful of ryo he took off to help his apprentice.

**With Naruto.**

Naruto was expecting to find himself dead, he had been in the immediate blast range of the bomb and could not escape fast enough, yet to his surprise he was still alive. He felt the heat of the flames surrounding him and he could smell the strong scent of smoke and blood but he himself was completely fine.

Opening his eye's he was further surprised to find the fire surrounding him protectively in the form a bubble of flame, even the heat wasn't effecting him. looking around he found not a single scratch on himself of his clothing.

"So it's finally happened, the Uzumaki bloodline within you has finally awoken" said a deep voice, turning around Naruto found Jiraiya standing their looking strangely grim.

"Ero-Sennin, what's happening?".

* * *

**Hope you liked it, anyway I don't know when the next chapter will be out im having computer troubles but I'll try to update as soon as I can. Anyway I have introduced Naruto's main antagonist for the next three years, he will serve as mainly an obstacle for Naruto to overcome before he returns home.**

**Next Chapter: Return to the Whirlpools.**

**Konohagakure:**

**Naruto Uzumaki  
Age:13  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Konohagakure  
Affinity: Fire/wind  
Ability: Jinchuriki/Uzumaki Chakra  
Weapon: ?  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Taijutsu/Fuinjutsu  
nin:3.5 gen:1.5 tai:3 speed:3 strength:3 stamina:5 intelligence:2 handseals:2 total:23**

**Sakura Haruno  
Age:13  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Konohagakure  
Affinity: Water  
Ability: Chakra Control  
Skills: Iryojutsu/Taijutsu  
nin:2.5 gen:3.5 tai:2 speed:2 strength:2 stamina:1.5 intelligence:4 handseals:4 total:21.5**

**Sasuke Uchiha  
Age:13  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Otogakure  
Affinity: Lightning/fire  
Ability: Sharingan  
Weapon: Chokoto (Later)  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Shurikenjutsu  
nin:3.5 gen:2 tai:2.5 speed:3.5 strength:2.5 intelligence:3 stamina:3 handseals:3 total:23**

**As you can see with four-five months of intense training with a sannin has drastically improved the three of them beyond anything they could normally achieve with regular training although please remember that in cannon Sasuke was reported to be using combat and body enhancing drugs thus his true level is slightly below Naruto.**

**After the time skip it appeared that only Sakura and Sasuke benefited from their training leaving Naruto as the same one trick pony he has always been. The three ended up becoming cheap copies of their sannin teaches which was a major let down.**

**I plan to change that, im going to give the three of them their own identity and style and make all three of them unique among their generation.**

**Others:**

**Saizo Kira  
Age:44  
Rank: C-rank  
Affiliation: Tsume no Kuni  
Affinity: Water  
Weapon: Katana  
Skills: ninjutsu  
nin:3 gen:2 tai:3 speed:2.5 strength:2.5 stamina:2.5 intelligence:2 handseals:3 total:20.5**


	4. Return to the Whirlpools Part I

**Chapter Four: Return to the Whirlpools Part I**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

**Jutsu/Technique/Biju**

_Thoughts/Thinking_

Talking/Speech

**Anyway here's chapter 4. This chapter Naruto discovers his Uzumaki heritage and leaves for the ruins of Uzushio.**

* * *

**Yugakure no Sato: With Naruto and Jiraiya.**

"Alright Ero-Sennin explain what exactly is going on" Naruto demanded with a scowl.

The two had arrived at their hotel room after leaving the ruined hot springs, the two having escaped the scene of the crime decided to return to safety so that they were not pinned with the blame.

"I had hoped this wouldn't happen for at least another year, especially with the chunin exams so close but I guess there is no other choice now" Jiraiya said with a tired sigh.

"Naruto before I start you should know that your family name of Uzumaki is an actual clan name, the Uzumaki clan existed and you are of their blood, you are from the Uzumaki clan" Jiraiya started " The Uzumaki clan were originally from **Uzu no Kuni (Land of Whirlpools)** and ruled over **Uzushiogakure no Sato (Hidden Village among Whirling Tides) **they were also blood relatives of the Senju clan".

"Your speaking as if they no longer exist, what happened to them?" Naruto asked with confusion.

"During the second shinobi world war, they were destroyed by a combined army from **Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and Yugakure** they fought for weeks and nearly succeeded in defeating their attackers but in the end they still fell, their village burned to the ground" Jiraiya said solemnly.

Naruto was shocked, he had just discovered the information he had been waiting all his life to receive, information about his family and now he learns that they are already dead, since more than 20 years ago.

"Wait if you said they were destroyed then how am I from Uzumaki blood" asked Naruto hoping to get some answers about his parent's.

"Your mother, Kushina Uzumaki was the heiress of the Uzumaki clan. She had been sent to Konoha months before the invasion in order to become the next Kyubi Jinchuriki after your ancestor Mito Uzumaki passed it on to her" Jiraiya said dropping the bombshell on his student.

"My mother was the Kyubi Jinchuriki?" asked a shocked Naruto.

"Yes, she was your predecessor".

Naruto didn't know what to feel, anger that his mother was subjected to the life he had, or joy that his mother would be one of the few people who could truly understand him. Naruto felt a whirlwind of emotion stir in his mind, he didn't know how he should feel everything he knew up until now seemed almost insignificant in comparison to what he had just learned. If Naruto where to be honest with himself he would admit this confusion scared him, he just didn't understand these feelings.

Naruto's downward spiral of emotions was stopped when Jiraiya placed his hand on his shoulder giving him support. Naruto smiled in the end he wasn't alone, he knew Jiraiya would help him understand but first he needed to get all the answers to his questions.

"Kushina Uzumaki was my mother, correct?" at Jiraiya's nod he continued "Well what can you tell me about her, and also please tell me why I haven't been informed of this until now" Naruto asked.

"Your mother was a very powerful kunoichi and one of the few seal masters to exist within the last twenty years since the destruction of your clans village. She was very skilled more so than any other Konoha kunoichi today, I would say that Kushina could even match if not defeat Tsunade, my old teammate and one of the Sannin" Jiraiya said with a smile.

"So she was pretty strong then?"

"Yeah, she was strong, so strong in fact that even after giving birth to you and having the Kyubi ripped out of her, she still had the strength to suppress the Biju's massive power" Jiraiya said gaining a look of awe from his student.

"She was a master of the chakra chains technique which is an Uzumaki Clan technique, she mastered the Jutsu to such a level that she could annihilate entire squads of ANBU with ease" Jiraiya continued.

"What was she like?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya instead, pulled out a photo of her that he had saved for Naruto and gave it to the young jinchuriki.

"She's beautiful" Naruto whispered, tears slowly pooled in his eye's as he finally had a chance to gaze upon the woman who gave him life.

Jiraiya chuckled "She was a hot head like you, always eager to prove herself and loved a good fight. She had a short temper and took no crap from anyone she even beat half her classmates to near death for insulting her" Jiraiya paused to gather his thoughts.

"Despite that she was also very kind and understanding she was always willing to give someone the chance to prove themselves. She loved you Naruto, I know the ten months you were growing inside her were the best months of her life, never forget that Naruto she cherished your life above all else and even sacrificed her own to save you" Jiraiya finished.

Naruto felt happy that he now knew that his mother loved him, after all these years he had the answer he was looking for.

"What about my father?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry kid but until you make jonin I'm not allowed to reveal that information" Jiraiya said with a frown.

"Then why could you tell me about my mother, not that I'm not grateful, just curious" questioned Naruto.

"I was told that upon activating your Kekkei Genkai I could reveal your mother's identity and heritage to you" spoke Jiraiya. Naruto's eye's widened as he just remembered he had a Kekkei Genkai.

"Oh yeah I have a Kekkei Genkai, thanks for reminding me I almost forgot, so what is it?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Well the Uzumaki bloodline has two parts, first part is something all Uzumaki have and that is increased vitality, larger than average chakra reserves, and increased density of chakra. Over all these abilities give Uzumaki clan members long life spans, improved regeneration and powerful chakra" Jiraiya lectured the young Uzumaki.

"And the next part?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"The next part is an ability unique to each Uzumaki, it's very rare for any two Uzumaki to share the same ability within the same generation. For example Kushina could suppress and absorb chakra through either touch or by using a medium like a chain or wire, Mito Uzumaki could sense negative emotions and I'll intent, she could even manipulate them to a certain degree depending on the amount of willpower her target has" Jiraiya started.

"From what I see you have an ability over fire similar to pyro-kinesis although I believe your ability goes far beyond this" Jiraiya finished his lecture.

"So how do I learn more about my ability" Naruto asked with a frown.

"No idea" Jiraiya said bluntly causing Naruto to face plant to ground.

"WHAT DO MEAN NO IDEA" Naruto yelled.

"Now, now don't be so loud, I might not be able to train you but I believe I know a place were you can find the answers you're looking for".

"Were?".

"The ruins of Uzushiogakure" Jiraiya said with a seriousness Naruto hadn't seen in a while.

"Can we really go there?" Naruto asked quietly.

"I can take you to the island but only you can go inside the ruins and find your answers, do you want to go?" Jiraiya asked. After a long moment of silence Naruto finally answered.

"Let's go, I got answers to find" He said with confidence getting a grin from the Toad Sage.

**Kaminari no Kuni: With Higa Izumi.**

"So is it done?" asked a voice in an arrogant tone.

"Yes Higa-sama, he walked right into the trap" Taki said quietly as she remained kneeling before her new employer.

"Good, I don't expect the trap to finish the job but hopefully Uzumaki-san has now learned to mind his own business" Higa said as if speaking down to a child.

"Higa-sama if you don't mind me asking but why was I ordered to not kill him?" Taki asked with caution.

"Naruto Uzumaki is a jinchuriki and an important asset to Konoha, the current strongest world power. The Akatsuki organisation is after the Jinchuriki and I have heard that they posses powerful shinobi under their employ. It wouldn't be wise to anger either side unless given no other choice" Higa explained.

"Ah, I see"

"Well if that's all your dismissed" Higa said waving her off.

With a nod Taki disappeared in a swirl of water. Turning around Higa looked out his window, staring out over the city his mansion resided in, he smirked.

"Well Uzumaki it's your move now".

**Uzu no Kuni: With Jiraiya and Naruto.**

Cruising along the coast was a wooden transport ship, this ship had just passed the whirlpool fields that surround the small island nation. Standing at the front to the ship were two figures, Jiraiya the Toad Sannin and Naruto Uzumaki his apprentice.

Two days had passed since they had left Yugakure, after hiring a boat and a crew they had immediately set sail for Uzu no Kuni and had reached the island with relative ease. Looking over at his surprisingly quiet apprentice Jiraiya spoke up in an attempt to find out the problem.

"I have noticed you have been rather quiet over the last two days, still thinking about your bloodline?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

Naruto scowled "No, I'm contemplating the various ways I'm going to kill that arrogant brat Izumi for his little stunt back in Yugakure". Jiraiya chuckled at his students embarrassment.

"Hehehe...he did get you good, I mean a mere civilian was able to set a trap for a trained shinobi hahaha.." Jiraiya said with mirth.

"Tch...he got the jump on me I'll admit, but there is no reason to laugh at me" Naruto said with a glare.

"Well it's your fault, well It's partially my fault for having you do so many easy combat missions that your other skills got rusty, you should use this as a learning experience" Jiraiya said earning a confused look from his apprentice.

"What do you mean Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya sighed, he had hoped his apprentice would be able to pick up on the lesson himself.

"Naruto you might not have realised it but over the last few months you have become somewhat arrogant. I know your skills have improved and your missions have become easier but that's no excuse for letting your guard down" Jiraiya reprimanded the boy. Jiraiya himself had seen the kunoichi plant the trap but had decided to see if Naruto could figure it out, sadly Naruto failed to see underneath the underneath.

"Have I really been that bad" Naruto asked with shock.

"In another month or so I would have said you would be Sasuke II" Jiraiya said jokingly getting a scowl of the blonde.

"DON'T EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT" Naruto exclaimed.

"Well, now hopefully you have learned your lesson" Jiraiya said patting Naruto on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to be more careful from now on" Naruto said somewhat downtrodden.

"Hey don't feel too bad I was once like you at your age, even the Yondaime Hokage grew a little arrogant as a young teenager, It's called growing up" Jiraiya reassured his student. Naruto just smiled lightly having his doubts erased.

"Anyway we're here now, I can't go any further so I'll leave the rest to you, at the end of the month I'll reverse summon you to Tanigakure for the chunin exams. Until then have fun, and learn as much as you can" said Jiraiya.

With a nod Naruto jumped overboard and begun making his way to the island.

**Uzushiogakure: with Naruto.**

Naruto arrived at the ruins of his clans village hours after leaving Jiraiya, having spent hours lost in the surrounding forest that concealed Uzushiogakure. Although had Naruto decided to follow one of the many rivers running through the country he might have found his destination sooner.

Looking around him Naruto could see the ruins stretched nearly as far as the eye could see, the village itself was divided by three rivers and surrounded by rolling hills and thick forestry. What really surprised Naruto was the lack of corpses and skeletons. Naruto had assumed that no one had come back to the island and so expected the dead to litter the ruins.

Casually walking down the ruins Naruto never noticed four figures observing him from the shadows. They were dressed in dark blue flak jackets that held the Iwagakure design, they all wore a headband with a spiral symbol and finally each of the figures had red hair.

"Well what do we have here, It seems another intruder has arrived" said a deep voice.

"Probably looking for our clans technique's just like the rest" said another male voice.

"Well no matter he'll be dead just like the rest" said a feminine voice.

"Hn" grunted the last figure.

"Seiryu-kun go down and deal with him, we'll wait here as back up" the female voice ordered.

"Fine but that means any belongings he has are mine, after all to the victor goes the spoils" the man known as Seiryu said. "Is that okay with you Byakko-chan?" he asked.

"Fair enough, now finish him and don't take too long" Byakko demanded. With a smirk the man vanished from the shadows and begun moving at extreme speeds towards his target, pulling out a handful of kunai he launched the projectiles and moved in for the kill.

Naruto barely managed to dodge the hail of kunai that were thrown at him from behind, looking down he spotted a glowing seal on each of the kunai and recognised them as explosive seals, jumping back as far as he could Naruto barely managed to escape the barrage of explosions.

Turning around Naruto barely managed to raise his guard to block the powerful kick that slammed into his airborne form, despite blocking the kick the man's strength still launched Naruto into a broken stone pillar shattering it. Pulling himself out of the rubble Naruto finally got to properly see his attacker for the first time.

The man was tall and lean like most shinobi who relied on speed, he had long red hair tied in a loose ponytail that fell down his back along with sharp black eyes. He wore a black shinobi uniform with a dark blue flak jacket of Iwa design. Resting on his back was a long nodachi.

"Who are you, why are you attacking me?" Naruto demanded causing the man to scoff.

"I am Seiryu the Azure Dragon of the East, and I'm attacking you for trespassing on my home, now enough talk" the man said back with a piercing glare.

"Tch fine then" with that Naruto unleashed **Katon: Kongobaku (Fire Release: Adamantine Flame)** spewing out a massive orb of flame at the red-haired man. The man smirked confidently and raised his right arm towards the fireball and muttered **"Fuka Hoin (Fire Sealing Method)** the kanji for fire appeared on his palm and before Naruto's very eye's his Jutsu was absorbed into he seal.

_"What!, no way that was my most powerful fire technique. How did he just absorb it?" _Naruto though with panic.

"Well that was impressive, but is that all you have?" Seiryu taunted mockingly.

"Far from it" Naruto said rushing towards his opponent.

"That's the spirit" Seiryu said with a grin.

Naruto raced towards his opponent and engaged the man in taijutsu using his Senju style he had been learning from Tsunade's scrolls, unfortunately his opponent was easily besting him, if not toying with him. Ducking into Naruto's guard Seiryu slammed his fist into the boys chest launching him back nearly a dozen metre's. Holding his palm forward Seiryu released the absorbed fireball back at Naruto, summoning a shadow clone to throw him out-of-the-way Naruto then proceeded to complete a single-handed **Rasengan** and launch himself at the man.

Giving an appraised look at the boy's Jutsu, Seiryu ran through some handseals and slammed his palms together, with a cry of **Kagami Kabe no Jutsu (Mirror Wall Technique) **A mirror like barrier was summoned in time to block Naruto's attack. Naruto, much to his surprise could not shatter the mirror with his technique and instead found himself being hit with the force of his own Jutsu that had been reflected back at him by the barrier.

Getting up with a groan of pain, Naruto struggled to his feet and desperately sucked in air to fill his winded lungs. "_This is bad, I haven't been so outclassed since Orochimaru back in the forest of death, what am I going to do?_" Naruto though, desperate to form a plan but showing no results. Naruto's distraction cost him, before he knew it he was surrounded by paper tags each holding the kanji for lightning.

**"Raijin no Fuin (Thunder God Seal)"** Seiryu called out darkly.

The tags lit up and unleashed a devastating barrage of lightning on its trapped victim while at the same time absorbing his chakra. Naruto screamed in pain as his body was wracked with electricity, his chakra was being diminished and he knew that should this go on any longer he would die.

**"So weak, so fragile, how pathetic you are Naruto. Do you want my power, do you want to destroy him" **boomed a sinister voice Naruto knew to be the Kyubi.

"_Y-yes, I need you're chakra I don't like it but there is no other choice"_ Naruto reluctantly responded to the fox.

**"Hehehe...so be it"** Kyubi laughed and flooded Naruto with two tails of power. A pillar of red chakra erupted from around Naruto destroying the seal and shattering the ground around his feet.

"Shit, a Jinchuriki" Seiryu muttered. His eye's widened when the jinchuriki launched a shockwave at him, he grunted as he was slammed through a wall by the force of the shockwave and barely rolled over, dodging an axe kick from the enraged genin.

Quickly summoning up another mirror barrier, he was left shocked again when a red chakra arm easily smashed through the barrier and slammed into his body knocking him to the ground. Naruto launched himself at his downed victim but was slammed by a meaty fist launched from another attacker and sent flying into a wall.

"Genbu you really saved my ass, thanks" Seiryu said in gratitude before pulling himself up. Moments later he was joined by his other two comrades.

The first was a large muscular man who towered over his comrades, he had shaggy red hair that fell around his shoulders and dull brown eye's. He wore a black sleeveless uniform with a flak jacket that was straining to keep closed over his muscular form.

The next was another man of average height, he had spiky red hair and purple eyes. He wore standard black uniform with flak jacket, he also had a white sash around his waist with the kanji for whirlpool, and a gunbai strapped to his back. He held a stoic gaze and held himself with an air of nobility.

The last figure was a curvaceous woman with long flowing crimson hair with two bangs framing her face, she had emerald-green eyes and wore the same uniform as her fellow comrades, strapped to her lower back were two wakizashi. She also had a white sash around her waist with the kanji for whirlpool.

"You see this is what happens when you play around with your enemy" the woman reprimanded her shaken teammate.

"Yeah whatever" he childishly dismissed her advice, causing her to punch his skull in anger.

"Enough, we are facing a jinchuriki someone we can not take lightly so stop fooling around" the noble looking man calmly spoke.

Naruto at this time had recovered from the surprisingly powerful punch and gained control of his anger, finally getting a chance to scope out his new enemies he decided to stall for time to come up with a new plan.

"Who are you three?" he asked with a growl.

"I'm Genbu the Black Tortoise of the North" the giant of a man spoke up in a deep booming voice.

"I am Suzaku the Vermillion Bird of the South" the noble man said in a regal tone.

"And I am Byakko the White Tiger of the West" the woman said with a purr.

"As you know I am Seiryu the Azure Dragon of the East" Seiryu started. "Together we are the Four Celestial Guardians of Whirlpool, a group consisting of the four strongest Jonin of Uzushiogakure".

_"Uzushiogakure, but isn't that village destroyed, I mean we are standing in the very ruins of said village. What's going on here?"_ Naruto though in confusion.

Sadly before Naruto could further think on this new information the enemy made their move. The woman known as Byakko went first running through some handseals she held her palm towards the approaching figure of Naruto and formed a seal array on her palm out of wind chakra.

**"Sanketsu Fuin (Suffocation Seal)"** Naruto was literally stopped in his tracks as the very oxygen around the immediate area was sealed away leaving Naruto gasping for air.

Suzaku went next, performing handseals and placing his palms to the ground, a seal array made of blue fire appeared around Naruto. With a whisper of **"Funshutsu Fuin (Eruption Seal)" **the seal array converted all the stored chakra in the technique and used it to erupt violently in a torrent of searing blue flames catching a struggling Naruto within it's range.

Naruto, due to his new bloodline survived the flames but was still burned badly, although the Kyubi chakra immediately began healing his wounds rapidly, the burns would still delay him for a few moments.

Genbu went next, using water chakra to form a sealing array around Naruto's wounded figure he muttered his jutsu **"Suiro Fuin (Water Prison Seal)" **water surged up around Naruto and trapped him in a sphere of water that began absorbing his chakra.

"Now!" cried out Seiryu.

Placing themselves around Naruto in a square formation they begun a series of handseals and each performed their respective technique.

**"Ryubi no Jomon (Gate of the Dragon Tail)"** yelled Seiryu as he summoned a white wooden shield-like barrier.

**"Koko no Jomon (Gate of the Tiger Fang)" **Byakko called out summoning a black watermill-like barrier.

**"Kikia no Jomon (Gate of the Turtle Shell)"** Genbu roared as he summoned a dark green honeycomb-like barrier.

**"Hoyoku no Jomon (Gate of the Phoenix Wing)" **Suzaku said calmly as he summoned a flaming lampshade-like barrier.

**"Shiji no Saimon (Gate of the Four Beasts)" **the four cried out simultaneously.

The four barriers came together and formed a large rectangular barrier prison around Naruto completely restraining him and suppressing his and Kyubi chakra.

"Enemy subdued, what now Byakko?" Seiryu asked, but before she could answer they were interrupted by an enraged scream.

"ENOUGHT" screamed a woman who looked to be in her fifties, she had dark blue eye's and red hair tied up into a bun held by two ornate needles, she wore an elegant purple kimono and held a beautiful sheathed katana in her obi.

The four guardians eye's widened in surprise by her appearance "Senna-Sama, what are you doing here?" asked a nervous Seiryu.

"I knew the four of you where spoiling for a fight but to attack a fellow kinsman is unforgivable" the woman scolded the group.

"Now release the barrier" she demanded, and they quickly followed her orders dropping the barrier and freeing Naruto.

"We didn't know he was an Uzumaki, I mean he has blonde hair it's easy to misjudge" Seiryu said nervously.

"The barrier I placed around these ruins would only let in a person of Uzumaki blood, besides he is obviously an Uzumaki, just look at him he looks just like my daughter Kushina" she reprimanded the man.

"Big sis Kushina" Byakko whispered with wide eye's.

"He is Kushina-Sama son" said a shocked Suzaku with the most emotion Naruto had seen on the man all day.

"Of course he is, I have waited for this day for so long, the day has come when my grandson finally finds his way home" Senna said happily with tears beginning to build in her eye's. The four guardian's quickly fell to their knee's and bowed to Naruto much to his shock.

"Welcome home, Naruto-Sama" they said humbly.

Naruto for his part was shocked and could only ask himself what exactly was happening.

* * *

**Chapter four complete. Naruto makes his way home and finds a surprise in the ruins, Has family still alive, and finally understands how outclassed he truly is in the ninja world, getting the arrogance beaten out of him.**

**Uzushiogakure is destroyed only a group of survivors survived and have secretly remained on the island looking after the survivors of their clan, they aren't a formal shinobi village and don't often take missions instead preferring to remain hidden.**

**Next Chapter: Returning to Whirlpool part II. Samui will finally be making her appearance next chapter.**

**Stats:**

**Uzushiogakure:**

**Suzaku Uzumaki  
Age:41  
Rank: Jonin  
Affiliation: Uzushiogakure  
Affinity: Fire  
Ability: ?  
Weapon: Gunbai  
Skills: Fuinjutsu/Kenjutsu/Ninjutsu  
nin:5 gen:3 tai:4 speed:4.5 strength:4 stamina:4 intelligence:4 handseals:4 total: 32.5**

**Genbu Uzumaki  
Age:44  
Rank: Jonin  
Affiliation: Uzushiogakure  
Affinity: Water/Earth  
Ability: ?  
Weapon: ?  
Skills: Bukijutsu/Fuinjutsu/Taijutsu  
nin:4 gen:2 tai:4.5 speed:4 strength:5 stamina:4.5 intelligence:4 handseals:4 total:32**

**Seiryu Uzumaki  
Age:42  
Rank: Jonin  
Affiliation: Uzushiogakure  
Affinity: Lightning/Fire  
Ability: ?  
Weapon: Nodachi  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Kenjutsu/Fuinjutsu  
nin:5 gen:2.5 tai:4 speed:4.5 strength:4 stamina:4.5 intelligence:4.5 handseals:4 total:33**

**Byakko Uzumaki  
Age:40  
Rank: Jonin  
Affiliation: Uzushiogakure  
Affinity: Wind  
Ability: ?  
Weapon: Twin Wakazashi  
Skills: Fuinjutsu/ninjutsu/Kenjutsu  
nin:4 gen:3.5 tai:4 speed:5 strength:3.5 stamina:4 intelligence:4.5 handseals:4.5 total:33**

**Senna Uzumaki**  
**Age:71**  
**Rank: Village Leader**  
**Affiliation: Uzushiogakure**  
**Affinity: Fire/Water/Yang**  
**Ability: ?**  
**Weapon: Katana**  
**Skills: Fuinjutsu/Kenjutsu/Ninjutsu**  
**nin:5 gen:4 tai:4 speed:5 strength:3.5 stamina:5 intelligence:4.5 handseals:4 total:35**


	5. Return to the Whirlpools Part II

**Chapter Five: Return to the Whirlpools Part II **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

**Jutsu/Technique/Biju**

_Thoughts/Thinking_

Talking/Speech

**Chapter 5 is here. Some of you are curios about why Naruto remaining family never came to retrieve him, well you will find out this chapter.**

* * *

**Kumogakure no Sato:**

Samui let out a suffering sigh as she rubbed her aching shoulders, her teammates only metre's away from her arguing like always. Sometimes she regretted becoming the student of Killer Bee, her eccentric sensei rapped terribly at every opportunity and her team consisted of a short-tempered kunoichi and an overly exaggerating and cautious shinobi.

Her teams antics often caused her enough headaches and stressed her out more than she would like to admit, on top of that her large breast caused the tension to build up in her shoulders sending waves of pain through her body. Many wouldn't be able to tell with Samui being so cold and reserved but Samui was at the end of her patience.

Walking up to them, she interrupted their conversation, if you could call it that. "Omoi, Karui I've just received word that Raikage-Sama has summoned all of us" Samui spoke up coldly.

"Summoned huh?" said Karui as she ran her hand through her untamed red hair.

"What in the world could it be?, maybe some kind of crisis has occurred, or could it be were going to be reprimanded?. Does he know that my body mass index spiked?" Omoi mumbled quietly. "Maybe putting mayonnaise on my potatoes wasn't such a good idea" he said worriedly.

Karui let out a frustrated sigh at her teammates over exaggerated concerns "stop, you always think too much Omoi, why would he scold you for something like that at most you would just be sent out to buy protein drinks."

"Being around you guys is really tiring" Samui said with a sigh. Samui brought her arm up to her shoulder and began massaging it as the pain began to grow.

"Oh, my shoulders" She said with a pained expression.

"Your shoulders are probably sore because of your well endowed figure, but there's a chance that it's something else, what you thought were stiff shoulders could be..." Omoi said worriedly before being interrupted by an angry Karui.

"Just shut up, quick you're talking and let's go already!" the read head burst out angrily.

"You really should think things through more carefully, your shoulders aren't so sore because you're so flat" he reasoned with his volatile teammate. This happened to be the wrong thing to say because Karui marched over a kicked him harshly.

"Grrr, just shut up" She growled out "You got something else to say".

"This could be just the beginning" he tried to reason. "It will cause-".

"You two, if your really ninja you should act like it, let's go" Samui interrupted harshly.

Samui unlike her teammates knew what the summons was about, the long-awaited opportunity for chunin promotion had finally occurred and she was determined to finally be promoted even if she had to drag her team through the exams herself.

Samui had originally graduated from the Kumogakure Military Academy three years ago with top marks in all the ninja arts. She was deemed a once in a generation prodigy and was to be the new face and representative of the newest generation of shinobi and kunoichi. Upon graduation, Samui was apprenticed to Killer Bee, guardian of Kumo and the Raikage's brother. She attempted her first chunin exam the same year with a temporary team but failed due to the incompetence of her teammates. The next year, Karui and Omoi were assigned to her team, Killer Bee believed they needed a full years experience before attempting a chunin exam, now it was her third year and she was determined to achieve the promotion she should have received years ago.

Samui wasn't arrogant but she already knew she was at least high chunin level, within another year she would have the skills to qualify for jonin promotion. The group didn't take long to arrive at the Raikage office, the Raikage's assistant, Mabui greeted them and sent word of their arrival to the Raikage.

Turning around to her team she saw their anxious poses as they stood there nervously awaiting instruction from their village's leader.

"Relax, you'll be fine, as long as neither of you cause any trouble or interrupt the Raikage. Just stay quiet and let me handle things" Samui ordered, she had waited years for this chance and she wasn't going to let her squad mess it up for her.

Moments later Mabui opened the door and called the group inside. The Raikage's office was large but relatively Spartan in appearance, the only decoration besides his desk was a set of weights. The room had a large series of windows that allowed one to view the entire village and it's surroundings.

The Raikage, A, was a large, muscular dark-skinned man who gave off an intimidating aura, his massive chakra reserves alone could sent most novice sensor types into a minor fit. Finishing a set of reps the man placed his dumbbell's down beside his desk as turned to address his younger brother's team.

"Team Samui, I have a very important mission for you" A spoke up. Samui and her team kneeled an awaited their orders.

"What are your commands Raikage-Sama?" Samui spoke up for her team.

"The chunin exams in Tanigakure are only a month away, rumour has it that many powerful and important genin from other village's will be competing, your mission is to make it to the final round and crush the strongest genin in the finals for all the public to see, I want the world to know Kumogakure is the strongest." A ordered as he had Mabui hand out dossiers of certain genin.

"These dossiers contain information on certain genin that will need to be defeated, killing is allowed but it would be preferable if they are defeated publicly in the final round" Mabui explained.

Giving the dossiers a quick glimpse Samui caught a number of names, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and a bunch of other important genin like clan heirs and apprentices of powerful shinobi.

"Understood" Samui said with a nod.

Satisfied that the team had understood his orders A dismissed the group. Mabui though about the difficulty of the mission, she knew that some of those genin were not push overs and she was slightly concerned that team Samui might be in over their heads.

Turning to the Raikage she spoke her concerns. "Do you think they alone can succeed, this wont be easy?".

"They'll be fine, they are the strongest genin cell in Kumogakure they won't lose" A responded with a smirk.

"I hope your right".

**Otogakure:**

In the dark halls of one of the many bases that formed Otogakure, two figures could be seen walking nervously down the stone passage to answer the summons by their leader. The hallways were dark and intimidating, carvings of snakes decorated the long stretch of stone giving those who traverse the hallways he feeling of being stalked like prey.

The first figure was a young woman with long orange hair and brown eyes. She wore black pants with knee-length kunoichi boots, a white sleeveless shirt with fishnet arm warmers, she wore a purple rope belt and around her forehead was a Otogakure headband. Her name was Sasame Fuma, a young Fuma clan prodigy that had been manipulated into working for Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had promised to return her cousin and fellow kinsman, Arashi, if she worked for him. Sasame had always been quiet and reserved and had trouble connecting with others of her clan, Orochimaru saw her potential and so started a small scheme to acquire her into his forces. Under the snake Sanin's guidance Sasame had bloomed into a powerful young woman who had finally been able to tap into her large potential.

Since being recruited Sasame had been forced to work harder that she ever had to before, often leaving her at breaking point with each training session. Sasame like most Fuma clan ninja had a talent with Fuinjutsu and Barrier-Ninjutsu, nothing compared to the Uzumaki clan but better than most others, it was a talent Orochimaru desired. Sasame knew she was being trained for something, Orochimaru didn't take just anyone under his wing unless he had a specific role for them to play, she also knew that chances were that she would die fulfilling this role, thus her nervousness at being summoned.

The next figure was another young woman, she had long red-pink hair, honey coloured eyes and wore a scowl on her face. She wore a dark blue long-sleeved shirt that was half unzipped revealing some cleavage, a white cloth that hung around her waist ending at her knee's that acted like a skirt, a purple rope belt, black spandex shorts, and knee-length high-heeled boots. Her name was Tayuya Uzumaki, former member of the now disbanded Sound Five and ex bodyguard of Orochimaru.

Tayuya having barely survived her battle with Temari, fled back to Otogakure only to be severely punished for failing to retrieve Sasuke in the required timeline. Tayuya was demoted and then tortured, used by Kabuto for experiments and then harshly retrained to make up for her failure. The only reason she was still alive was because she had still succeeded in bringing Sasuke to Otogakure.

Tayuya hadn't been the same since she returned, she was still arrogant and foul tempered, but now held a certain submissive streak around either Kabuto or Orochimaru, no longer defiant. Tayuya had still not yet figured out what they had done to her during her time as a lab rat but she was honestly terrified to find out.

Turning to her sempai, Sasame observed the red-head and was slightly shocked to see the normally foul-mouthed girl held a look of nervousness similar to her own. For as long as Sasame had known the Uzumaki kunoichi she had never once seen her show fear and it served to unnerve her.

"So what do you think Orochimaru-sama want's?" Sasame asked nervously causing the red-head to flinch as the silence was unexpectedly broken.

"Who knows what that creepy fucker want's, but you can bet your ass it's nothing good for us" Tayuya responded with a scowl.

The two continued walking in silence until they came to a large room decorated with large stone snakes, sitting on a throne was none other than the snake sannin Orochimaru to his right was Kabuto Yakushi and to the left was none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

"Welcome Tayuya, Sasame im glad you could make it" Orochimaru greeted them with a smirk. The two kunoichi kneeled before their leader and kept themselves from making eye contact.

"Tell me Tayuya how is your training going? have you made much progress on your ability" the snake sannin asked, Tayuya almost shivered in disgust at the sannin's leer.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama, I have made significant progress lately, especially since the operation, though I still don't know what you did" she responded getting a satisfied smirk out of the pale skinned man.

"Kukuku, most excellent, keep on improving and I might consider giving you your former rank back. By the way, that operation served to help amplify your ability, what I actually did to achieve that, well you'll find out eventually" Orochimaru said.

Tayuya scowled slightly but kept her head down so that the man wouldn't see it. Tayuya like her fellow Uzumaki had developed an ability, her ability had no name that she knew of but it's abilities allowed her to absorb Yin chakra or spiritual energy, once all the yin is absorbed she can corrupt and ensnare the victims soul turning them into a demonic like creature she calls Doki, which she can control.

Tayuya's ability gave her a strong alignment to Yin Release, making her a natural Genjutsu user along with giving her strong resistance to illusions and other Yin Release techniques.

"Sasame tell me how is your training progressing?" he asked with a smirk knowing that the man she sought to protect was already dead.

"It's going well Orochimaru-sama, I have just recently mastered all the chunin level techniques of my clan and am ready to move onto the Jonin level techniques" Sasame replied with her head still slightly bowed.

"Excellent, you progressed faster than I thought you would" Orochimaru said, pleased with the results. "Now then, I have a mission for the two of you, you're going to accompany Sasuke to the Chunin Exams in Tanigakure next month, your mission is simple make sure he passes to the final rounds" ordered the snake man.

"Tch, I figured it would be something like that considering our new clothes, even their colour scheme matches his" Tayuya said with an annoyed scowl.

"Now, now Tayuya, Sasuke thought you should all look like similar to each other to help distinguish yourselves among the other teams" Kabuto said mockingly, annoying both Sasuke and Tayuya.

"One more thing" Orochimaru interrupted. "Sasame in light of your rapid improvement I have decided to gift you with the curse seal, be proud you're the first in you clan to be awarded one. With this mark you shall be counted among my élite forces".

Before Sasame could react Orochimaru had bitten her on the neck and implanted the curse mark. Sasame cried out in pain but managed to silence herself and endured the agonising pain so she did not embarrass herself in front of her leader. Eventually she passed out from the pain and the curse mark fully formed on her neck, looking over Orochimaru spotted the three tomoe mark.

"Well, who would have thought she would receive the curse seal of heaven, how interesting" he mused.

"Tayuya continue on with your training, Kabuto take Sasame to her room to recover, then tomorrow I want you to upgrade it to level two, I will continue Sasuke's training" Orochimaru ordered.

Giving an amused smirk Orochimaru left the room with his apprentice following after.

**Uzushiogakure: with Naruto, Four Weeks Later.**

Naruto let out a groan as he picked himself out of another pile of rubble, his body ached as he had been pushed nearly to his limits. The source of his pain were the four people in front of him, the four celestial guardians who had agreed to train him in preparation for the chunin exams.

"Again?" Seiryu asked getting a nod from the blonde.

Naruto stood and summoned flames into being around him, they were white-hot and radiated at an extremely hot temperature. Naruto had spent the last four week's training his new ability and his control over fire, the guardians had eagerly joined him in training. Naruto would never forget the day he had met them, shortly after being completely trounced by the guardians he was led to the Uzumaki clan's new home village.

The village was beautiful, surrounded on all sides by heavily forested rolling hills located deep into Uzu no Kuni, the villages only entrance being through a maze like cave. Large wooded walls reinforced with advanced defensive seals surrounded the village giving a measure of defence. The village itself was full of many Uzumaki's, some who survived the siege of Uzushio and others who had returned from exile.

He was greeted warmly by his long-lost family and found himself fitting in with ease. Eventually her was led to the clan head's modest house and was finally allowed to ask the questions he desperately wanted answers for. Among those questions the most prominent one was "Why was I never taken in, why was I alone?". The answer he had received took wind right out of him, his anger disappearing quickly.

_"Naruto, you're not the only Uzumaki out there alone, there are many others who are stranded in other nations and forced to make new lives for themselves. Some other Uzumaki's are in even worse conditions than you are and often find themselves forced to work for those who would abuse their talents. So tell me Naruto, do you think you are special that only you should receive special treatment over your fellow kinsman?, do you think you are the exception?, that you are more important?."_

Naruto had never felt so ashamed of himself, he had let his anger get the best of him and saw only his own suffering, never even considering his own kinsman still out there alone in a world that would seek their destruction. Upon further discussion Naruto learned what it truly meant to be a leader, Senna had explained that the destruction of Uzushio was caused by the worlds fear of their clan. Kirigakure, Kumogakure and Yugakure had feared the Uzumaki clan the most.

With the Uzumaki clans mastery of Fuinjutsu and their individual unique abilities they could often turn the tide of battle in moments, in the mere blink of an eye an entire enemy battalion could be sealed away into the very earth they walk over crippling entire armies and eventually forcing them into a complete rout. Kirigakure lost control of the sea's after the First Great Shinobi War after their fleet was sunk whirlpools summoned by the Uzumaki clan, Kumogakure suffered a humiliating defeat on their own soil when their armies were literally sealed away into massive sealing scrolls and held at ransom, finally Yugakure was crushed during a failed invasion by the diverse abilities of the Uzumaki, forcing them out of the war early.

These defeats would solidify their fear of the infamous Uzumaki clan which ironically would later lead to the Uzumaki clans defeat. Because of the fear of another Uzushiogakure rising, Kumogakure, Kirigakure and Yugakure had spent numerous resources to hunt down and capture or exterminate as many Uzumaki's as possible. Senna as leader of the clan must protect it at any cost even if it means abandoning those who live outside of Uzu no Kuni, she can never let anyone know of the Uzumaki clans survival. Only those who willingly return to their homeland are within her power to help.

Snapping out of his thoughts Naruto once again turned his attention to the battle, focusing his flames into a dozen tomoe like shapes he manipulated them to stay floating around his body as he awaited his enemies move. The technique he was using was one of many new techniques he had created, **"Katon: Magatama"** was a technique that created multiple tomoe shaped fireballs that detonated with the force of an exploding tag. Seeing his new technique Naruto couldn't help but remember the day he learned the true name of his ability.

_**Flashback:**_

_Naruto stood before a stone pedestal, a large tome lay surrounded by a complex seal array that led to another smaller seal array bellow it, Senna stood by his side with the guardians behind the two eagerly awaiting the results._

_"So what do I do?" Naruto asked with confusion._

_"Place your hand on the smaller seal array and release a burst of chakra, the book will then open and guide you to the page that contains the information about your ability. The pages are normally blank making it impossible to read but if one should posses an ability the worlds will appear on the page in white, if the words appear in red then it means you have an ability that is dormant. Seeing as you have awakened you ability the writing will appear as white. This book is where we record all the abilities Uzumaki clansmen awaken, It also allows us to find each persons unique ability." Senna informed him. _

_With a nod Naruto placed his palm over the seal array and gave out a small burst of chakra, at first nothing happened and Naruto was about to ask if it worked when the book opened and began tuning the pages on it's own. Before long it stopped at a page and the writing appeared in white. Standing back Naruto allowed Senna to read the page seeing as she was the book's keeper._

_"Well your ability is called the **Looping Yellow Fire Dragon** **Gate **it's an ability that is directly empowered by your eight inner gates. Your ability is the complete mastery over fire in all it's forms on a level that even surpasses pyro-kinesis. Previous wielders of this ability could manipulate and create fire without the need of handseals once they had sufficient control over their ability. The first person to master this ability could even use the mighty flames of Amaterasu which is considered to be the peak of fire manipulation"_

_"On another note it is suggested that with better chakra control and high level of fire manipulation will exponentially increase the power, size and heat of the flames that can be commanded. Your abilities weakness is that it is highly temperamental and will be hazardous to anyone around you" Senna finished informing him. _

_"Wow that's pretty cool, I can already think of so many possibilities, oh I can't wait to begin training again" said an excited Naruto getting amused chuckles from the others._

_"What abilities do guys have?" Naruto asked curios to see the power his fellow Uzumaki possessed._

_"Well my ability is called **Looping Green Wind Dragon Gate **and it allows me mastery over wind, I mainly use for my **Imperial Deer Legs Technique** which allows me to gather wind chakra to my legs for increased speed, leg strength, and jumping ability. It also increases my reflexes and lowers wind resistance around me, I can even use my ability to give my arms cutting and slashing abilities" Byakko lectured the blonde._

_"My ability is called **Looping Red Earth Dragon Gate** and it allows me to harness to Earths electrical fields and generate real electricity which contains more power than chakra created electricity. The only flaw is that it only works while my body is in contact with the ground" said Seiryu with a fierce grin._

_"My ability is called **Looping Orange Water Dragon Gate** and as the name implies, I can complete control over water even going as far as to manipulate it's density and temperature without the need for handseals. I can make water as tough as steel, fast as wind, and as hot as fire. The only down side is that it requires pre-existing water to be of any use, It does not allow me to create water naturally, of course after years of training my water affinity I can now create small amounts of usable water with just my chakra to overcome this weakness" Genbu said with a dull tone as usual._

_"What about you Suzaku?"_

_"My ability is simply called **Azure** **Phoenix** it allows me control over blue fire which can reach extreme temperatures, I can also use my flames to heal myself. My strongest ability is that I can take on a phoenix form and even use a partial transformation should I wish too" Suzaku said stoically._

_"And yours Senna-baa-chan?"_

_"Oh well my ability is a powerful ability called **Flaming Dragons Gate** it's power is what allowed me to become leader of our clan. The power of my ability is the power over life and death, I can age someone until their life force is gone and I can restore one's life force effective bringing them back from the dead. Such an ability is not without it's draw backs, I can only revive the recently deceased, I need their bodies as a requirement, It's extremely chakra taxing, and It can only be used once every six months. This ability has allowed me to lead the survivor's of our clan through the last two great wars and keep our kinsman alive. Like I said before only those Uzumaki who come back to the island are within my power to help, those on the outside are beyond my reach" Senna informed an amazed Naruto._

_"Wow that sounds amazing, but I guess with such an ability if anyone learned of you powers the world would be after you" said Naruto._

_"Quiet correct Naruto, this power is one of the many reasons why I must keep our clan hidden from the outside world otherwise the shinobi of the five great nations would descend on us like carrion on a corpse" Senna said sadly. _

_"Well enough of this talking now, Naruto shall we begin your training?" Byakko spoke up to change the subject. With a nod Naruto and the others left the room none noticing the book once again changing to a blank page that quickly lit up with red writing._

**_Flashback End._**

"Don't get distracted and drop your guard Naruto!" Seiryu called out as he charged at the blonde with a battle hungry grin. Returning the grin Naruto launched the fire Magatama's at Seiryu, the man dodged frantically as each tomoe exploded with the power of an exploding tag.

Byakko finding an opening used her **Imperial Deer Legs Technique** to increase her speed and appeared before Naruto, swinging her fist, Naruto barely managed to dodge her assault. Before Naruto could fight back Byakko was suddenly behind him, moving faster than he could see and was launched into the air by a vicious kick.

Genbu created a dozen small water bullets, each as hard as steel and launched them at the airborne jinchuriki. Naruto seeing the approaching water bullets created small orbs of flame and had them explode with enough force to manoeuvre himself through the enemy barrage without being hit.

Seeing Genbu out of water Naruto ran through some and signs and with a roar of **Katon: Karyuu Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bomb) **he spewed out a large flaming dragon that then proceeded to split into three heads, attacking Genbu from multiple directions.

Genbu frowned seeing the massive, extremely hot fire dragon descending down at him like a wrathful deity, reaching into his equipment pouch he pulled out a scroll and with it he unleashed a large torrent of water. Genbu utilised his bloodline to reduce the weight of the mass of water and control it to form a large wall in a single second. The fire dragon impacted the wall with a roar and turned the mass of water into boiling hot mist, fortunately for Genbu the dragon was doused by the water. Using his bloodline Genbu then lowered the temperature of the mist from boiling to very cold and then proceeded to merge with the mist itself.

Naruto ploughed straight into the mist and immediately found himself shivering from the low temperature, he had assumed that the mist would be hot from his fire technique allowing him to fight under his own conditions but it seems his relative took the advantage before he could capitalise on the opportunity.

Before Naruto could think of a new strategy he was immediately assaulted by small water blades, Naruto quickly figured out that Genbu had used his bloodline to manipulate the water molecules in the mist to form blades to discretely attack Naruto when he landed. Suffering a number of lacerations over his body and having been unable to locate his attacker Naruto did the only thing he could think of.

Surrounding his body in a dome of fire he quickly expelled the flames outward clearing the mist and leaving Genbu covered with light burns from the unexpected attack. Conjuring up some more flames Naruto prepared to battle the wounded guardian when a barrage of lightning slammed into his back, Naruto lost control of the flames causing them to dissipate and he collapsed onto the ground in a fit of pain.

"You left your guard open again, remember no matter what never drop your guard in a battle even if the enemy appears to be defeated" Seiryu lectured the groaning blonde.

"Yes sensei" Naruto managed to mumble out through gritted teeth as the spasms wracking his body finally ended.

"Very good Naruto you have done well these last few weeks I have no doubt you will triumph in your exams" Byakko complimented him proudly causing Naruto to blush at the praise.

"Hey Genbu what was that attack you used, I couldn't even see it yet I kept getting hit?" Naruto asked the giant of a man.

"That was my **Kasumigiri (Mist Beheading) **technique, it creates water blades formed out of the mist and strikes unseen at the enemy, the technique at full power can decapitate someone hence the name" said Genbu with surprising excitement, it wasn't often that people took an interest in him or his techniques especially since he had such an intimidating figure. Genbu found it nice that Naruto was not scared of him and had even befriended him when so many others kept their distance.

"Good work Naruto, your improvement is astonishing, you would make a fine guardian should you join, but alas it's a shame you have decided to leave" Suzaku spoke up in his usual regal tone.

"Unfortunately, as much as I would like to stay I have other commitments I must live up to, that and I wouldn't want to bring the Akatsuki to my clan's home. It would probably be best if I remain away from here until more peaceful times approach" Naruto said sadly. He didn't want to leave but he knew that he must.

"But you will still come and visit right?" Byakko asked as she slung her arm over his shoulders.

"Of course, whenever I can, I promise" Naruto said warmly. Moments later a summoning seal array appeared around Naruto's feet, looking up at his family one last time he gave a smile.

"I guess this is goodbye for now take care of yourselves and please send my regards to Senna-baa-chan" Naruto said with a smile, moments later he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Damn, I'm going to miss the little guy" Seiryu said somewhat sadly. Byakko chuckled and punched the man lightly on his arm.

"Don't worry he'll come back after all he promised us and we know Naruto doesn't break a promise."

* * *

**Hope you liked chapter 5. Naruto, Seiryu, Byakko, Genbu, and Senna abilities came from the manga Tenjho Tenge, I had to modify them slightly so that they could fit into the narutoverse.**

**Next Chapter: Chunin Exam Arc Begins.**

**Kumogakure:**

**Samui  
Age:16  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Kumogakure  
Affinity: Lightning/Water  
Weapon: Tanto  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Genjutsu/Kenjutsu  
nin:3 gen:3 tai:2.5 speed:3.5 strength:2 stamina:2.5 intelligence:4 handseals:3.5 total:24**

**Karui  
Age:15  
Rank: Genin  
Affinity: Lightning  
Affiliation: Kumogakure  
weapon: Katana  
skills: Kenjutsu/Taijutsu/Ninjutsu  
nin:3 gen:1.5 tai:3 speed:2.5 strength:3 stamina:3 intelligence:2 handseals:3 total:21**

**Omoi  
Age:15  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Kumogakure  
Affinity: Lightning  
Weapon: Katana  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Kenjutsu/Taijutsu  
nin:3 gen:1 tai:3 speed:3 strength:2.5 stamina:2.5 intelligence:3 handseals:3 total:21**

**Otogakure:**

**Sasame Fuma  
Age:13  
Rank: Genin  
Affiliation: Otogakure  
Affinity: Water  
Ability: Curse Seal of Heaven  
Weapon: Fuma Shuriken  
Skills: Ninjutsu/Fuinjutsu/Barrier Ninjutsu  
nin:3 gen:2 tai:2 speed:3 strength:1.5 stamina:3 intelligence:3.5 handseals:2.5 total:20.5**

**Tayuya Uzumaki  
Age:15  
Rank: Genin (Unranked)  
Affiliation: Otogakure  
Affinity: Wind/Yin  
Weapon: Demonic Flute  
Ability: Curse Seal/Uzumaki Chakra and Longevity/Unnamed Uzumaki ability  
Skills: Genjutsu/Summoning Technique/Juinjutsu  
nin:3 gen:5 tai:2 speed:3 strength:1 stamina:3 intelligence:3.5 handseals:4 total:24.5  
**


End file.
